In Gaza, It's the Occupation, StupidJody Williams, winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and chair of the Nobel Women's Initiative told me, “It is very hard to think about Israel calling what it is doing defending itself when it is occupying Palestinian territory. It's collective punishment. We cannot support punishing an entire population because of the policies and attacks of Hamas. It's illegal.”Read more...

Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (08 -13 Nov. 2012)Saturday, 10 November 2012: At approximately 15:30, Israeli military vehicles stationed at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired an artillery shell at a number of Palestinian children who were playing football at al-Mentar Hill east of al-Shoja'iya neighborhood, which is east of Gaza City and nearly 1,500 meters away from the border. As a result, 2 children were instantly killed ... Following this attack, a number of Palestinian civilians, who were gathered to mourn a bereaved in the house of the Harara family, rushed to the area, where the IOF immediately fired another 3 shells. As a result, 2 Palestinian civilians were instantly killed: ... Additionally, 38 civilians, including 8 children, were wounded; the wounding of 10 of these civilians was described by medical crews as being serious. At approximately 17:00, the IOF, positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, fired 2 artillery shells at the water tank of the Khuza'a Municipality, nearly 800 meters away from the border. Shrapnel from the shells hit 11 Palestinian civilians, including 5 women and 2 children, while they were inside their houses or in nearby streets: ... At approximately 20:40, Israeli warplanes opened fire at Gaza International Airport, southeast of Rafah. No casualties were reported. At approximately 21:50, Israeli warplanes opened fire at open areas in the east of Jabalya town in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported, but Palestinian civilians, especially women and children, were extremely terrified. At the same time, the IOF, positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, fired an artillery shell at the office of the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company in al-Sha'af neighborhood east of Gaza City. The office was heavily damaged, but no casualties were reported. At approximately 22:45, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a number of members of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) near al-Khuzondar fuel station in the west of Jabalya town in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported. At approximately 23:00, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a group of the al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) in the west of Jabalya town. As a result, a member of the group, Mohammed Sa'id Mohammed Eshkokani, 18, from the Beach camp west of Gaza City, was killed by shrapnel throughout the body.Read more...

A Final Visit: The Kanafani Home in HaifaI often stop by the old Kanafani house on Bourj Street in Haifa. It belongs to the family of Abdul-Latif Kanafani, a cousin of the celebrated Palestinian author and activist Ghassan Kanafani who was murdered by Israeli operatives in Beirut in 1972. The street became a frontline during the 1948 war, and the family fled to nearby Akka before being displaced a second time and becoming refugees in Lebanon.Read more...

JORDAN:Thousands of Jordan protesters tell Abdullah to "go down"Thousands of protesters chanted the Arab Spring slogan "the people want the downfall of the regime" in Jordan's capital on Friday, as demonstrations against rising prices gather force in a country so far spared the brunt of Middle East unrest. The mainly urban Muslim Brotherhood joined hitherto largely rural protests that have erupted in the last few days, raising the spectre of lasting instability in the kingdom, a staunch US ally with the longest border with Israel. Friday's demonstration near the main Husseini Mosque in downtown Amman was peaceful, with unarmed police separating the demonstrators denouncing King Abdullah from a smaller crowd chanting in support of the monarch. "Go down Abdullah, go down," the main crowd of about 4,000 protesters chanted as police, some in riot gear, largely stayed away from crowd. Protests have turned violent in impoverished towns across the kingdom since Wednesday when the government imposed a hike in the price of fuel. Unemployed youths and demonstrators have attacked police stations, closed roads with burnt cars and torched government buildings. One protester was killed on Thursday as a crowd tried to storm a police station in the northern city of Irbid.Read more...

Jordan vows 'iron fist' response to unrestThe protests, which erupted on Tuesday across the country in response to the government's raising fuel and gas prices, are the largest and most sustained to hit the country since the start of uprisings in the region nearly two years ago. ... Armed men taking advantage of street chaos caused by the protests, fired on two police stations late on Wednesday, wounding 17 people, including 13 police officers, officials said. One of the assailants was killed in the ensuing firefight. Assailants stormed a police station in Irbid, in the country's far north, and fired on officers there on Wednesday night. Another police station came under attack in the northern Amman suburb of Shafa Badran, where automatic weapons were used. In Salt, northwest of capital Amman, protesters set fire to a civil affairs office. The scene was less deadly in Amman itself on Wednesday night, although up to 1,000 people had spilled onto the streets. Hundreds of young men gathered at a usually busy road junction in the capital, facing off with riot police, who shot tear gas as tensions rose. The unrest was not confined to the country's north, as about 2,000 protesters in the city of Karak, about 140km south of Amman, shouted: "Down, down with you, Abdullah," and "Get out and leave us alone" as they marched through the town on Wednesday, shattering shop windows, witnesses and police said. The violence started on Tuesday night after news spread of the price increases, under which the cost of household gas will rise by 53 per cent and petrol around 12 per cent. The measure aims to rein in a bulging budget deficit and secure a $2bn loan from the International Monetary Fund. Minutes after state television announced the price rises, several thousand Jordanians poured into the streets. ... In Amman, around 500 demonstrators clashed on Tuesday with anti-riot police and hurled stones at them after they were prevented from holding a sit-in near the interior ministry on Gamal Abdel Nasser Circle. They set tyres and garbage containers ablaze and tried to block the main road between there and nearby Firas Circle in Jabal Hussein neighbourhood, but police prevented them and fired tear gas, an AFP journalist reported. Violent demonstrations broke out earlier this week across all 12 of Jordan's governorates, police said. Protesters burned tyres to block traffic, torched police and private cars and at least 20 government offices, including court buildings. Police said at least 120 people have been arrested nationwide. In the northwestern city of Salt, tens of protesters unsuccessfully tried to storm the residence of Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur, while in the southern city of Maan, demonstrators fired in the air to force riot police out of town, wounding one officer, police said in a statement. Protesters have demanded the resignation of Nsur and his 36-day-old government. Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up the protest outside his home in Salt on Tuesday night.Read more...